It seems that over the last few months there has been a lot of discussion in these forums about the challenges, grumblings about the quality of photos, disagreements on what does and does not meet themes, etc
My thought is that since we know the site has the capability to have a 3rd challenge each week, why not make that an Open Theme Challenge. Keeping the same editing guidelines as the themed challenges, but maybe a chance for us to spread our photographic wings.
There have been a lot of great forums posts regarding B/W photos, Drive By, Cats, Babies, etc
Maybe this third Open Theme can give us a wide variety of photos to see and learn from....
And as a by-product, those nasty "Doesn't meet the challenge" comments will dissapear :)
There have been a lot of great forums posts regarding B/W photos, Drive By, Cats, Babies, etc
Remember that those photos are culled from a photographers entire portfolio, not necessarily taken in a week.
Personally, I like the "challenge" aspect of the assignments, since it encourages me to think about taking photos of things I wouldn't normally take photos of.
Plus, there are other online photo sites (such as Digital Photo Contest) that do not have the "challenge theme" aspect that DPC does.
I've not seen one of those yet here (I've only been here a couple of months), and I like the idea.
I do like the directed challenges as well, they make me think. But perhaps they are too narrow. If the point is to help people learn to take better pictures, then I personally would like to see most of the themes concerning technique, and not content! I guess the soft focus theme meets that description pretty well.
I still find it hard to find time to come up with a photo and realize it in a week. Most of us, I think, have jobs and families too! I'd personally like to see the date restrictions eased a bit. In several cases, I've taken an appropriate shot several days before the challenge starts, or several weeks, but I couldn't use it. Yet challenges are really the only potential here to get feedback. I've posted some shots in response to threads in the forums, but there's little visitation traffic generated from that. I do belong to other sites where you can get feedback, but mention it because that seems to be a deficiency here right now.
If we can get 350+ entries in a themed, non-member challenge in a week, how many do you think we'd have in an unthemed challenge that allows a month for submissions?!
If we can get 350+ entries in a themed, non-member challenge in a week, how many do you think we'd have in an unthemed challenge that allows a month for submissions?!
very true - and 350 is too many to go through on dialup 28k
the themes are good, maybe more themes a week - less per theme
vote on the ones you enter only
only allowed to enter so many each week
I don't think voting on 500 entries would be much of a problem for most people. I do know that it would be a challenge for modem users, but in most challenges I enter, about 60% of the total votes I recieve come in on the first day of the challenge. By the end of the second day, I believe that I usually have about 80% of what I'm going to get. A majority of the voters on this site vote quickly.
Maybe if we had a month long challenge, we could have two weeks to vote on it... even a month to vote...
I'm guessing we could easily top 700+ entries in a month-long contest that was basically "submit whatever you want". To me, that seems like way too many entries to have voters evaluate for more than a few seconds, let alone provide meaningful comments.
well, with this connection, and with out wasting work time
during slow hours - i donet have time to vote on the challenges i entered in a proper manner.
i imagine there are many out there in the same boat, whether on high speed or not...
I'm guessing we could easily top 700+ entries in a month-long contest that was basically "submit whatever you want". To me, that seems like way too many entries to have voters evaluate for more than a few seconds, let alone provide meaningful comments.
I'm just looking for some sort of outlet to let photographers make their own photos... shoot what they want to shoot... take their time... and submit it to a challenge. In the past I have enjoyed voting on the open theme challenges much moreso than anything we have ever had on this site. You get a chance to see what the photographer enjoys doing instead of what they are being told to do. This being the case, I enjoy the photos and I think the photos are much better. Even though there would be more images to go through, it doesn't get boring because you don't see the same theme 300 times.
i would agree with the open themes giving more variety
but the themes force you to photograph things you may not, and maybe in a way you normally wouldnt...
not all bad...
spreading out the number of entries in a given theme ( by having more per week ), and controlling how many challenges one can enter in/ vote on. would be an efficient way run the site
The purpose of this suggestion is not to do away with the themed challenges at all.
I think it would be fantastic to see other photographs that are taken by the folks that use this site.
I am in the same boat as Soup is, not having the time to enter every single challenge, but I still get out and take photos almost everyday.
I also understand that there are other sites that have these open challenges but I like the DPC site and as a member I would love to see this as an option
If the total number of entries is a problem, then perhaps that open themed challenge could have a cutoff of 150 entries for example...once that total is reached it goes to a vote and a new challenge begins
This is an idea for a creative enhancement, not a knock on the site at all
This is an idea for a creative enhancement, not a knock on the site at all
Exactly... it would not take anything away from the existing challenges. It would just provide an extra opportunity for a photographer to display his/her best work here :)
I believe the "no theme" challenge would be a good one. However, people would still try to categorize the photos. Then how would one know if the dpc guidelines and were met? What would be the rules for disqualification.
I believe the "no theme" challenge would be a good one. However, people would still try to categorize the photos. Then how would one know if the dpc guidelines and were met? What would be the rules for disqualification.
Hey Steve, if you had read Rick's original post you would know what his ideas were for the guidelines.
I believe the "no theme" challenge would be a good one. However, people would still try to categorize the photos. Then how would one know if the dpc guidelines and were met? What would be the rules for disqualification.
Hey Steve, if you had read Rick's original post you would know what his ideas were for the guidelines.
Thanks for the comments, Fat. I guess I didn't peruse the original post by Rick thoroughly enough.
...In several cases, I've taken an appropriate shot several days before the challenge starts, or several weeks, but I couldn't use it. Yet challenges are really the only potential here to get feedback...
I agree that the start dates for the challenges should be relaxed a little - maybe a week or two prior to the challenge being announced. It's not like any members are getting a head-start on someone - Aren't we all just out there taking photos every week, anyway, if not every day? I'm not sure why someone shouldn't be allowed to use a shot they very recently took. With the "pace of modern life" and all, we could benefit from a little leeway here, it seems. Whaddaya think?
